A CANNABIS grower is scared he will become hooked on heroin inside jail - having been given a 12-month sentence.
John Molyneux, also a convicted robber, began taking heroin while he was serving a five-year stretch inside prison, said his barrister, Richard Barradell.
Mr Barradell told Sheffield Crown Court: "He knows Doncaster Prison is full of it. He hopes he is strong enough not to give in to all the demons."
Molyneux, 47, of Wilson Street, Wombwell, was arrested after police raided his home on May 9 this year.
They found a cannabis growing set up with four tents, electric bulbs and an extractor fan upstairs. Plants, seedlings and root balls were discovered along with a glass jar containing cannabis in a bedroom. A bucket contained fragments of leaf and stalk.
Prosecutor Bev Tait said based on an annual yield, the cannabis would have fetched £17,000 on the streets.
Molyneux told police six larger plants were about two months old and he had been growing cannabis from seed.
Mr Barradell said he had struggled with his heroin addiction for a long before meeting his partner and since then had not offended.
But with his criminal record he found himself virtually unemployable and got into debt as well as starting to smoke cannabis.
"He has let his partner and stepchildren down, this was not for gain he did it because he was in debt," the barrister said.
His partner suffered from a degenerative bone disorder, one of his stepsons had ADHD and a brain disorder and the family cared for each other and relied on him.
But Judge Michael Murphy jailed Molyneux, who admitted cultivating cannabis with intent to supply, for 12 months.
He told the defendant: "I see people day in day out now who have decided to produce cannabis themselves and put it into the drug market.
"It's happening with enormous frequency. Anyone who does this for gain must expect an immediate prison sentence."
